Thanksgiving decor, pt. 1

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween!  I can’t believe it’s already November. Halloween was uneventful for me this year. There wasn’t a trace of Halloween present in my office, I had no costume, I attended no Halloween events or parties, and did not have one drop of candy. I did, however, decide at about 10 pm that evening to pull my old dog Jenny’s Old Navy bumblebee costume out of storage and put it on my dog Ella just long enough to point and laugh at her and get a picture…it’s so funny how sad and catatonic dogs get when you put them in a costume….lucky for her, she was only in it for a couple of minutes:

Despite my deep, burning desire for a reclaimed wood dining table, I figured I wasn’t going to throw down $1000 or more on a new dining room table any time soon, but at the same time, our small blonde wood 4-person table was too small for the space, looked a little too yellow in that room, and wouldn’t get us through the holiday season.  I ended up getting the Ikea Bjursta table in black brown.  At $250, and seating for up to ten people with the leaves inserted, it is a bargain.  I also picked up some Ikea Soaré placemats since they are cheap and very fall-ish.

We are having a “Friendsgiving” on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and then having some of my family over for Thanksgiving, so a decent table was a must.  We had 6 chairs already that matched our small table, so we’re holding on to those for the time being.  The cost of chairs can add up, especially when you want 6-10. We also really can’t decide on a style of chair…SO, in the mean time, we will just use the ones we have.

I’ve also been picking up a few decor items at Homegoods lately. AHHH I love that store! Everything is so cheap. I got a couple leaf dishes and apothecary jars on my last visit. I really don’t know why you’d go to a department store and buy an apothecary jar for $35 when they always have the exact same ones at Homegoods for $12.   This is my first year accumulating fall/Thanksgiving decor…hopefully in a few years I’ll have enough for a decently decorated house!

One thing I’ve seen a lot of on the PInterestsphere is fall and Thanksgiving-themed banners, such as these and this one and this one.  Back in the day when I thought that I might possibly enjoy scrapbooking, I accumulated quite a bit of crafty stuff – papers, lettering, etc.  I went to Michael’s and got some large letter stencils, glue sticks and some jute twine and for just a few dollars made a banner (well, banners) with the items I already had.

It was fun and easy to make! I was having flashbacks to Kindergarten with my construction paper and glue sticks.  I made a template from some green card stock and pretty much went from there.  I chose the colors, layout and size based on whatever I had lying around.

hello, autumn

Hello, all!  I hope your autumn (or spring, depending on where you’re at) is off to a nice start.  I’ve got 8 weeks of classes left until I am finished FOREVER, so I am pretty pumped about that.  95% of the work that’s left for this semester must be completed this month, which also means I am in for a long and boring October.  The upside is that November won’t be too bad at all and I can enjoy Thanksgiving.  I LOVE the holidays.  I will be studying for the bar exam in the midst of them, but that’s okay.

To cap off the summer, a few weeks ago we went on a canoeing trip with friends.  My puppy Ella quite enjoyed herself.  She loved fetching the frisbee in the river.  She’s a pretty good swimmer on her own, but I am overprotective so I got her this Ruffwear life jacket.  I plan to go on many more canoeing trips in the summers to come. 🙂

The unfortunate consequence of that trip was that I lost my sunglasses in the river 😦  They were the Ray-Ban Bubble Wrap Aviators.  I loved them, but they didn’t stay on my face anyway, hence their watery demise, so I figured now is as good a time as any to find a pair of aviators that fit my face better.  I ended up going with the Persol Square Top Bar Aviator PO2407S in matte gunmetal.

I saw a lot of good reviews of them online. I love them!! They’re much heavier/less flimsy than the Ray-Bans, and they stay on my face.  I love the tortoise shell and metal detailing on the sides, too, even though you can’t really tell from this photo. Hopefully I don’t lose or break these too soon 🙂  If I do, I swear it’s $5 plastic shades from the gas station from here on out.

I’ve also had my eye on the Michael Kors Runway watch in gold forever.  I love that watch and see it everywhere, and I finally decided to get it, but I went with the less common gold/horn color instead.  The writing on the face was softer and more feminine, and I liked the horn colored enamel mixed with the gold.

Of course, it’s huge right now so I need to get some links taken out, but I can’t wait to wear it!   I think those are enough accessories for me this year.  I ended up getting the watch because I wanted to get a new work bag, but as usual, I am being very indecisive about that.  I figured I’d hold onto the ones I use frequently for a little longer and wait until the spring, and get the watch instead.

Enjoy your week! I’m off to start my marathon month of homework….

happy friday ~

Happy Friday, everyone!  And happy 11-11-11, if you’re into that sort of thing.  I have not been around much….it’s been a busy couple of weeks!  Between pro bono hours I am doing for school, work, homework, etc., I read Mindy Kaling’s new book.  I LOVED it!!  I spent a particularly long time in the waiting room for a doctor’s appointment last week, and I am pretty sure it was the only thing that kept me sane.

I am loving the cooler weather lately, except for the days it’s windy and rainy.  Fall wind+rain is the WORST.  The best?  Fog.  The first picture is my backyard a couple Saturdays ago.  We live close to the Ohio RIver, so on occasion it will get super foggy in the mornings.  I find it really peaceful and beautiful.

Halloween was fun! I made a last minute decision to dress as the black swan.  45 feet of black mesh and 2 hours later, I had a makeshift tutu to wear with my costume.  I got the idea for the no-sew tutu here.  That, plus some feathers from Michael’s, some makeup from the local costume shop, and my old pointe shoes and leotard, I was good to go.  I had everything but the schizophrenic delusions.

Keeping with the ballet theme, I also took my boyfriend to his first ballet, Giselle performed at Music Hall by the Cincinnati Ballet.  My hair was feeling gross and not fitting for a nice night out, so I was super pumped when a french-twist-y thing along the crown, plus a low side bun, turned out pretty good.  My earrings are Banana Republic earrings I got last winter.

Following my usual routine, I went to Starbucks before class last week and was super excited to see the start of the holiday cups!  I know this is not particularly thrilling to most, but it marks the beginning of a happy season for me.  I have always enjoyed the holidays, and Thanksgiving and Christmas are some of the few days that I can relax and avoid things like homework and house chores guilt-free.  A lot of people seem annoyed by the fact that the season deemed “the holidays”/”Christmas season”/etc. seems to start earlier and earlier every year.  When I was little, I could not have imagined Christmas decorations being put out before Thanksgiving, let alone Halloween.  I am NOT one of those complainers.  The earlier, the better!  The other day I was feeling very grouchy because I had an abundance of laundry to take up to the laundromat.  They were playing a local radio station that had an “all holiday music” Sunday.  It really got me in a great mood! Next up?  Time to order the Nieman Marcus “Christmas Book”.  As a kid, the Sears Holiday Catalog was an integral part of every holiday season, so the whole holiday catalog thing really brings back some good memories.  Enjoy your weekend!

happy friday + halloween + possessed spray cans ~

Hey everyone! I hope you had a good week! I can hardly believe it, but it’s almost halfway through fall already – yeah, about another week or so. Then before you know it it’ll be winter and Christmas! ahhhh. Time flies, doesn’t it? Usually Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but I just don’t know if I will have the time this year – I have a paper to finish this weekend, and while I have an idea for a costume, who knows if I will have time to pull it together. What is your favorite halloween costume? My favorite is still Thing 1 & 2 I did with my friend Cate in 2006. We spent about oh, four or five hours one evening driving around to every store imaginable looking for red clothing. FYI, 2006 WAS NOT the year for red clothing. We couldn’t find a stitch of it, let alone things that we could use for the costume! Then we hit the motherlode at Value City of all places – red boys’ sweatpants, red turtlenecks, red mittens, red socks. Whoop! We were in business. Between that, some white face paint and some “go go dancer” blue wigs that got 90’s-era Tina Turner haircuts and hairspray, we had the best costume ever.

Have you done any Halloween decorating this year? I don’t really get into Halloween decorating as much as I do Christmas, but this year the bf and I got some spiced rum and cider, mixed some drinks, and spent an evening carving some pumpkins. Correction: HE carved and I, true to my word, bought some Krylon Glitter Blast spray paint and put it to the test. I read the reviews, and a few people complained that the nozzle locked up on them and either exploded, or just wouldn’t shut off. I had the same problem…luckily I was outside and the pumpkin was pretty much finished at that point. I left the can outside on the dropcloth, locked up and glitterblasting for about ten minutes until it finally ran out of steam. Then, after a few more minutes, it mysteriously started up again without anybody touching it. Luckily it ran out a second time before I had to call a priest. SO if you try this for any project? Consider yourself warned!! Have a great weekend and a fun Halloween!

fall knits

I was looking through my new fall clothing this weekend and I realized how many knits I accumulated…I was pretty pumped Friday evening when it was finally cool enough to wear one of them!  By the way, did you know that Zara now has an online store?  I was VERY excited about this, as I love that store and always visit when I am Chicago. We don’t have one in Cincinnati at the moment, so the online store launch was a big deal to me.  My first purchase was the shearling-collared knit cardigan in the picture below.  My favorite sweater I got was, surprisingly, the cable-knit cream crewneck from Old Navy.  For as inexpensive as it was, I am surprised how soft it is. As long as I take care of it and stick to dry cleaning or hand washing, I think it’ll turn out to be a good purchase. If you are looking for an old navy coat or sweater, be sure to check out old navy.com before today is up! You can enter FABFAVES at checkout and get 30% off!!

Sweaters, left to right – Zara, Express, Express, Old Navy, Old Navy, Express.  Scarf – H&M.

the weekend ~

It’s finally feeling like fall around here!  I got this great cotton blazer at H&M – I love the elbow patches and the fabric is slightly stretchy and super comfortable.  I am loving my new MICHAEL Michael Kors bag, too!  I really have my eye on this MK satchel…it’s $100 more and shape-wise is basically a smaller version of my LV speedy 35 – so, while I do like it and it’s still on the wish list, I stuck with a less expensive MK that is more practical for school.